SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Methane Seeps From Arctic Sea Bed
from BBC News Online
Scientists say they have evidence that the
powerful greenhouse gas methane is escaping
from the Arctic sea bed. Researchers say this
could be evidence of a predicted positive
feedback effect of climate change.
As temperatures rise, the sea bed grows
warmer and frozen water crystals in the
sediment break down, allowing methane trapped
inside them to escape. The research team
found that more than 250 plumes of methane
bubbles are rising from the sea bed off
Norway.
The joint British and German research team
detected the bubbles using a type of sonar
normally used to search for shoals of fish.
Once detected, the bubbles were sampled and
tested for methane at a range of depths.
Writing in Geophysical Research
Letters, the team says the methane was
rising from an area of sea bed off West
Spitsbergen, from depths between 150 and
400m. The gas is normally trapped as "methane
hydrate" in sediment under the ocean
floor.
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